тпсб - Sekundenschlaf

тпсб - Sekundenschlaf
Sekundenschlaf—"microsleep"—refers to that split second, on the train or in a meeting, when you nod off. Your head tilts, your eyes roll back, your train of thought slides into dream illogic—and then you snap awake again. Microsleeps are harmless in the cinema but potentially deadly on the motorway, and this debut LP from тпсб captures that ambivalence. A track like "Walking Distances" is fluffy bedroom electronica, albeit coated in lo-fi dust. The two tracks after it, "Quicksand" and "Matted Feathers," with their shambling rhythms and dead-eyed drones, are bleak as hell.

No information is offered on тпсб beyond their location (somewhere on the eastern side of the Russia-Finland border). The music's tapestries of drum loops and shabby melody, threaded through with mumbling, sighing voices, are equally hard to unpick. Several tracks go from A to an unexpected B, as with opener "Catching Rare Birds" (stoned meditation to techno trance), or hint at strong but ambiguous emotions ("The Grand Pacific Garbage Patch," whose arps bubble teasingly over restless breakbeat work). Then they slip away again, leaving us none the wiser.

Still, тпсб find(s) space on this 30-odd minute mini album for a satisfying finale. Rickety jungle track "Pacifier Habits" is deluged in redemptive synth chords, a bolder gesture which is perfectly timed. From there, closer "Are You Still Hurt" further ups the rhythmic ante but gets trapped in another limbo. Stuttered vocals and shrill strings leave us in anxious stasis, before ditching out into watery ambient. It's possible to dip into microsleep without ever realising it—that's part of what makes the phenomenon so intriguing, and so dangerous. This album, too, can slip by unnoticed, but a closer listen reveals puzzling depths.